United silence the Etihad

Manchester City’s Premier League title hopes were in tatters after suffering a 2-1 derby defeat at home to Manchester United on Saturday, leaving Pep Guardiola’s champions 14 points behind leaders Liverpool.

A penalty from Marcus Rashford and a goal from Anthony Martial put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side 2-0 up at the break and City only pulled one back in the 85th minute through Nicolas Otamendi.

United went ahead in the 23rd minute when VAR ruled that Bernardo Silva had brought down Rashford inside the box and the United striker kept his cool to convert from the spot.

Rashford missed a good chance to double the lead and the England forward struck the bar with a lofted shot from the edge of the box after.

The second goal wasn’t long in coming, however, Martial squeezing home a low shot after a swift exchange with Daniel James. It was not until the 85th minute when Otamendi headed in a corner that the hosts were able to find a way through, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, a rampant Liverpool beat Bournemouth 3-0 to lock down the Christmas number one spot as Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham blitzed Burnley 5-0 to climb to fifth in the table.

Interim boss Duncan Ferguson lifted Everton’s spirits, condemning Chelsea to their third league defeat in four matches.

Liverpool took advantage of playing before their closest rivals to widen the gulf at the top of the table to 14 points, meaning they cannot be caught by December 25.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opened the scoring, and they made it 2-0 just before the break when Naby Keita finished from close range, with Keita turning provider for Salah in the 54th minute.

After Tottenham’s 5-0 thrashing of Burnley, Jose Mourinho hailed Son Heung-min’s wonder-strike as the best goal he has seen since an equally stunning effort from Brazilian legend Ronaldo.

Son stole the show when he ran from deep inside his own half past a host of Burnley defenders and capped the astonishing burst with an ice-cool finish.

“Before this goal my son calls him Son-aldo and today he was Son-aldo!” Mourinho said. “This was an amazing goal. I know that he is going to reach the face of the keeper, his control is unstoppable. The only thing that compares was when I was at Barcelona with Bobby Robson. Ronaldo Nazario, Compostela against Barcelona, 1996. Ronaldo got the ball near the halfway line and scored a similar goal, an amazing goal.”